The policy (singular) of national security is a failure, says the author. Colombia should resolve the dilemmas it encounters, but without darkening its future with the fallacies woven around a sensitive (and marketable) theme for Colombians, as is its conflict with FARC.

The possible outlawing of Erdogan’s party removes the European dream even more

Posted by , 24th April 2008

The Turkish lay establishment, represented by certain bureaucratic, judicial, military sectors is ready to recover in the courts what was lost in the ballot boxes, and has asked the court to close the AKP, the Islamic formation moderated in the government since 2002. A request that would have pernicious consequences for Turkey, assures the author.

The new civilian government faces various internal and external challenges

Posted by , 17th April 2008

The recently elected coalition government of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) must now struggle to cement its power amid dauntingly high public expectations. In addition to lingering political disputes, among them the recent judiciary controversy and the ongoing conflict with Kashmir, this new government now faces a grave economic situation and a changing political atmosphere in the exterior.

In spite of the conciliatory tone of the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, other types of anti-Semitic messages reach the Palestinian population through the media. This is a direct problem for Israel, but, above all, it is a worrying phenomenon for the Palestinian society that claims it deserves an independent state. An independence that should include the managing of a good education system, maintains the author.

Recently, officials in WashingtonD.C., London, and Paris have claimed that, for ordinary Iraqis, the security situation has been improved by the surge in U.S. troops. However, the Iraqi people continue to suffer, with thousands dead, millions injured, and millions more displaced. What led to this anarchic situation and how can it be contained?

Strung up between radical and polarizing militant forces, a leadership lacking credibility, and a firmly rooted history of antagonism, the Israeli and Palestinian people face a strong and ever-escalating conflict. The author claims that few of those caught in the crossfire allow themselves to hope for an end in the near future. How does a peace so long desired, so diligently debated, find itself receding progressively farther from view?

The Tibet issue: just one of the many obscured by the economic expansion of Beijing

Posted by , 4th April 2008

The confrontation between Tibetan protesters and Chinese troops is simply a violent reminder of a long-established tendency towards coercive and expansionist policies of Beijing, the author argues. Is it any wonder that, given such a history, the international response to this most recent crisis has been underwhelming?

It does not make sense to think that the national interests safeguard can be guaranteed with measures that have exclusively national jurisdiction. Colombia will not be successful against FARC if its members find refuge on the other side of the border (which does not exempt Bogotá from having to ask Ecuador for complete forgiveness). Latin America will only achieve domestic and foreign security with a common and coordinated effort. Here is how.

After days of a military offensive against the Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, Turkey consented to withdraw its troops, in what appears to be a strategy to gain Washington’s trust and ensure that Ankara will have the possibility to carry out new, characteristically similar offensives (limited in scope and duration) in the near future. However, the Kurdish question will not be resolved until Turkey changes its mentality and puts policy before force when making decisions related to national security, states the author.